by Zach Bigalke

Created on: June 08, 2007

I would argue that it is not the duty of either patients or governments to pay for drugs which are essential to public health. Where the duty lies with the government concerning this topic is to negotiate with these bloated, merger-massive pharmaceutical companies to provide greater affordability. With designer drugs such as erectile dysfunction pills (Levitra, Cialis, Viagra, etc....) advertised all across the television, throughout magazines for all ages and even on stock cars, it is readily apparent that profit margins for these super-corporations are astronomically high. When new drugs hit the market, these companies reap ultra-high revenues - often without sufficient testing.

Remember all the drug recalls for wonder-cures such as phen-fen and Vioxx? These were essentially the result of lobbyist pressure on the government to legalize certain pharmaceuticals before they were certain to be safe across the spectrum of the population. When patients, suffering from an ailment, are forced to pay exorbitant prices to effectively play the guinea pig for these rich, soulless money-factories, it is the fault of the government for refusing to properly regulate this industry.

For those citizens unable to afford drugs, a benevolent government would have plans in place to ensure that its populace is as healthy as possible. Given specific circumstances, both patients and governments should be paying for these pharmaceuticals - but not at the current rape-and-pillage prices being extracted by companies concerned more with money than medicine. Ultimately, patients cannot negotiate with these companies to get a fair fare; therefore, the onus is on legislatures to strongarm this wholly out-of-control sector of Big Business.

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